Ideas on how to extend USB 50m+ on a budget

[Junorock]

So recently, I started a stream project for my local church and while my Logitech C920 does a grainy decent job at 60-70 meters about 2m off the ground. While this has satisfied me and the pastor for the passed few weeks it is by no means the best. Long story short, I am on a very tight budget (C920 being the expensive purchase QQ) I am exploring options the get the cam mounted on the ceiling about midway through our sanctuary which is about 40m from our sound booth. I have checked on usb 2-3.0 active extensions and they can be a bit pricey per meter (3.0 running about $100USD per 15m on Amazon) and everything I've read about PoE extensions but they don't seem to carry the data very well for the distance.

 

Any tips or advice would be gladly appreciated, or you could tell me to shut up and it won't work either way whatever works. Seriously, any help at all. 

[kelvinhall05]

14 minutes ago, Junorock said:

So recently, I started a stream project for my local church and while my Logitech C920 does a grainy decent job at 60-70 meters about 2m off the ground. While this has satisfied me and the pastor for the passed few weeks it is by no means the best. Long story short, I am on a very tight budget (C920 being the expensive purchase QQ) I am exploring options the get the cam mounted on the ceiling about midway through our sanctuary which is about 40m from our sound booth. I have checked on usb 2-3.0 active extensions and they can be a bit pricey per meter (3.0 running about $100USD per 15m on Amazon) and everything I've read about PoE extensions but they don't seem to carry the data very well for the distance.

 

Any tips or advice would be gladly appreciated, or you could tell me to shut up and it won't work either way whatever works. Seriously, any help at all. 

 

if you are willing to ghetto something just solder wires together

[bgibbz]

Repeater cable

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Wireless-Active-Repeater-Extension/dp/B004I0LAJI

[bgibbz]

1 hour ago, Junorock said:

So recently, I started a stream project for my local church and while my Logitech C920 does a grainy decent job at 60-70 meters about 2m off the ground. While this has satisfied me and the pastor for the passed few weeks it is by no means the best. Long story short, I am on a very tight budget (C920 being the expensive purchase QQ) I am exploring options the get the cam mounted on the ceiling about midway through our sanctuary which is about 40m from our sound booth. I have checked on usb 2-3.0 active extensions and they can be a bit pricey per meter (3.0 running about $100USD per 15m on Amazon) and everything I've read about PoE extensions but they don't seem to carry the data very well for the distance.

 

Any tips or advice would be gladly appreciated, or you could tell me to shut up and it won't work either way whatever works. Seriously, any help at all. 

Just noticed you said meters not feet. Your best bet would be using Ethernet. Essentially, you can buy a USB to Ethernet adapter and the device over that. Keep in mind, this will not power the device. You would need a powered hub at the other end.  

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-100m-CAT5-Single-Extender/dp/B00FB59F14

 

keep in mind- you may be forced go to buy a higher end model then the one I recommended. Some of the models that go for like 200-300 usd will support higher bandwidth, and a webcam consumes a lot of bandwidth. 

 

 

[Junorock]

@bgibbz Thats pretty much what I figured I would have to do in the long run. I was just seeing if maybe anyone else had tried anything like this and had a solution that wasn't so fickle...

[bgibbz]

11 minutes ago, Junorock said:

@bgibbz Thats pretty much what I figured I would have to do in the long run. I was just seeing if maybe anyone else had tried anything like this and had a solution that wasn't so fickle...

How exactly are you streaming this? A potentially better option would be to buy a very cheap PC (used, small form factor) and hide it by the cam. You can then control this PC using a remote desktop app like teamviewer and use this PC to stream. 

[Junorock]

I'm recording as our church is in the sticks, streaming was the general idea when we started. I set my laptop up in the sound booth at the rear end of our sanctuary with my Cam sitting on the ledge just over head on a 6" tripod. Like I said, It makes do for the audience that we currently have and without going to studio level equipment, which isn't practical or cost efficient for our attendance as we are a small church,  it is our current solution. Through the beauty that is OBS Studio I managed to crop down to just our Pastor and the area he walks in with minimal view of the crowd but would still like to get my rig higher and in less view. My pastor has also expressed wanting multiple angles which is what im trying to work out now. I'm just trying to figure out how to do it and not sacrifice my bandwidth from Cam to Computer.

[r4tch3t]

Raspberry pi? Connect it to the camera and stream from there? A Pi zero should suffice.

Not sure on software to connect it all together but I'm sure others will be able to help out on that score.

[SamuelJE]

USB over ethernet is probably your best option. It's fairly cost effective too. At my church I run an HDMI over ethernet and it works great! Perfect for a ministry budget.